From the Principal Team

Natalie Shanahan, Sam Fleming, Claire Johnston

Welcome to this week's newsletter, the last for Term 2 as we creep towards the break.

As always, there's been lots going on...excursions, discos, camps! We acknowledge and express gratitude for the teachers' work behind the scenes making these possible and our amazing parent helpers whom we couldn't do these things without.

Reporting:

Semester one reports will go live on Compass on Monday 30th June.

In 2025, Victorian schools will be reporting on student progress in mathematics using the recently revised Mathematics Curriculum Version 2.0. This involves a shift from reporting on three separate achievement standards to a single, aggregated score for the entire mathematics curriculum. This means parents will see a single, overall achievement level for their child in mathematics, rather than separate scores for Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. This change aims to provide a more holistic view of a student's mathematical understanding.

Parent/Teacher Meetings 2025:

We are conducting formal Parent/Teacher interviews this year instead of three-way conferences. This will be an opportunity for teachers to provide parents with information on their child’s learning progress. Students do not need to attend these meetings; however, they can wait outside the classroom if care cannot be arranged. The school day will run as usual.

Please note that at Banyule PS our teachers are proactive in reaching out to parents if an area of need arises throughout the year.

Prep 2026 Enrolments:

If you have a child starting Prep in 2026, can you please contact the office to arrange an enrolment pack to be sent home. Enrolments are due on Friday 25th July.

Child Safety:

Behind the scenes we've had a strong focus on Child Safety this term. This has included of professional learning opportunities for staff and School Council focusing on the Child Safe Standards, our compliance and our responsibilities. There are 11 Child Safe Standardsthat aim to:

•promote the safety of children

•prevent child abuse

•ensure effective processes are in place to respond to and report all allegations of child abuse

•drive cultural change and embed safety in everyday practices

•highlight we all have a role in keeping children safe from abuse

These are just some the actions undertaken to create a culture of child safety at Banyule Primary and relevant policies and documentation can be found on our website. These are supported by the work happening through our wellbeing and personal development programs that focus on personal safety and help-seeking and staff professional development throughout the year.

During our recent School Review our school was deemed 'compliant' in meeting the Child Safe Standards. We passed with flying colours!

Playtime....almost!

We are pleased to report that our builders and landscapers have informed us that our playground will be ready for action in the first week of Term 3. We will manage a soft-launch, knowing it won't cope with 640 excited kids on the first day it opens!

What Went Well...

We've had another busy term inside and outside the classrooms. As always, we like to look back at things that went well.

Asking yourself, “What Went Well?” trains your brain to focus on the good each day. Learning to focus on gratitude enables you to be more resilient while facing challenges and live a healthier, happier life.

Take a moment to add perspective to any situation by pausing and asking, “What Went Well?”. It's a great substitution for that car conversation after school that often goes:

Parent: "How was school?"

Kid: "Good."

Parent: "What did you do?"

Kid: "Not much."

Here's just some of what went well around here this term:

Have a great term break when it comes next week. We look forward to more great things in Term 3!

-Natalie, Sam and Claire

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